Auschwitz-Birkenau: A Place of the Greatest Cruelty and the Highest Dignity

Authors: Karina Skomorokhova, Mariia Moskaliuk

On 17 December 2024, our group from the logotherapy community visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial — a place where history cries out in silence. This was more than a museum visit: it was a profound pilgrimage to one of the most tragic symbols of the twentieth century. We walked the paths once taken by people condemned to die, looked closely at exhibits that had once been someone’s only possessions, and breathed air that remembers the pain of millions.

Suitcases in a museum exhibition. Photograph reproduced from the original article.

Auschwitz-Birkenau is a place where human beings displayed both the greatest cruelty and the highest dignity.

Around 1.1 million people died here in gas chambers, from starvation, torture, and medical experiments.

Members of the visiting group beside the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum sign.

Today, the memorial does more than preserve memory: it compels us to reflect on the nature of humanity, choice, and responsibility.

The system of extermination at Auschwitz was built with cold, almost industrial efficiency.

People arriving in overcrowded railway carriages were sorted within minutes: the young and healthy were sent to forced labour, while women with children, older people, and people with disabilities were sent straight to the gas chambers.

Visitors walking between tall concrete walls. Photograph reproduced from the original article.

The cynical inscription above the gate, “Arbeit macht frei” — “Work sets you free” — concealed a total devaluation of life. Yet even in these conditions, there were people who did not lose their humanity.

The gate bearing the inscription Arbeit macht frei at the former Auschwitz camp.

Among those who survived was Viktor Frankl — a man whose experience showed that even in the darkest times, meaning can help a person preserve an inner source of support.

Frankl’s experiences in the camps formed the basis of Man’s Search for Meaning, which he wrote after liberation, in 1946. He had begun developing logotherapy before his imprisonment. The manuscript of another of his books, Ärztliche Seelsorge, was lost at Auschwitz; later, in a subcamp of Dachau, Frankl worked on reconstructing it on scraps of paper. His experiences deepened his reflections on meaning, responsibility, and inner freedom. (Editor’s note)

On 27 January 1945, soldiers of the 60th Army of the First Ukrainian Front liberated Auschwitz. Before their arrival, the Nazis had forced around 56,000 prisoners from Auschwitz and its subcamps onto death marches. Around 7,000 prisoners in the main camp, Birkenau, and Monowitz awaited liberation.

Editor’s note. The numerical information in this web version has been clarified using information from the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum (Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, n.d.).

The liberation of Auschwitz did not mean the end of the struggle against evil. The world said, “Never again”, yet history has repeatedly shown that forgetting opens the way to new tragedies.

Why does this memory matter today, particularly for Ukraine? Because once again we face trials in which losses seem irreparable and pain seems endless.

An illustration from the original article: a man holding a Ukrainian flag to his face.

Frankl’s logotherapy teaches us:

• Meaning saves us even in the darkest times. If a person knows their “why”, they will endure any “how”.

• Suffering can be transformed into strength. This does not mean denying it, but it does mean the possibility of finding meaning in it.

• Psychological resilience is a key to recovery. After the horrors of war, loss, and destruction, finding meaning becomes critically important for individual and national renewal.

Frankl described how unfulfilled hopes of imminent liberation and the loss of faith in the future affected prisoners’ condition. At the same time, he emphasized the importance of responding to life’s challenges through concrete actions — daily and hourly — and recalled people who supported others and shared their last piece of bread.

(Editor’s note)

Today, we have a choice. We can remember and build a future grounded in dignity, strength of spirit, and the ability to find meaning even in the most difficult circumstances.

For even the strongest walls can fall. But the strength of the human spirit is unbreakable.

References

Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. (n.d.). Basic information on Auschwitz. https://www.auschwitz.org/en/press/basic-information-on-auschwitz/